1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light fixture. More particularly, the present invention relates to a light fixture for directing substantially all light generated therefrom within a specific target area.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fluorescent light tube is more than 60 years old, and has become, by far, the dominant source for commercial light fixtures in stores, factories, offices . . . etc. Yet their inherent high efficiency has been wasted all these years by placing them in an inefficient luminaire, usually no more than a curved white rear ‘reflector’ or a white box with some form of lens. No innovative designs appeared until the late 60's with the need to reduce glare in offices, by placing reflective grids in front of the tubes to direct some of the stray light in a more downward direction. But the combined thickness of many reflector elements obstructing the output aperture, further reduced efficiency.
Next came light absorbing baffles in front of the tube to minimize stray light, but they restricted the direct downward light as well, and therefore, also reduced efficiency.
With the advent of computers in offices during the 80's, however, some effort ensued to develop a better luminaire. But the designs were hampered by three misunderstandings: (1) the belief that a luminaire must be shallow to follow current architectural and lighting concepts, (2) a lack of recognizing the difference between the behavior of output rays from a ‘point source’ (the hot filament inside a clear flashlight bulb), and a ‘distributed source’ (the glowing outer surface of the fluorescent tube itself), and (3), little interest in developing a technique for calculating or measuring the actual light output over a target area, an essential to guide the design efforts.